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September 29, 2010

Read the Bills Act: Congress makes time for Stephen Colbert

Quote of the Day: “It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.” – Calvin Coolidge

Last month we told you that the federal government’s fiscal year begins on October 1. But, as of that report, Congress still hadn’t passed any of the 12 departmental funding bills that are required to operate the government.

Now with two days left, they STILL haven’t!

Instead of honoring their responsibilities Congress plans to pass a stop-gap spending bill called a Continuing Resolution (CR). This will allow government departments to continue paying their bills for another couple of months unnder the old budget agreement.

But the CR wasn’t released until the afternoon of September 28 for a Senate vote scheduled for today, September 29. And, there still isn’t a bill number attached to it.

Do you want Congress to operate this way — failing to honor their responsibilities and spending your money in last-minute bills they don’t read?

If not, then tell Congress to pass DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act.

You may borrow from or copy this letter . . .

Congress passes hundreds of unneeded bills, and constantly holds publicity-stunt hearings. For instance . . .

Comedian Stephen Colbert was invited to testify at a hearing last week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWcQEO1OG4Q  

Members of Congress had time for this bit of fun, but Congress hasn’t found time to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills that are due Oct. 1!

This means you will pass a Continuing Resolution instead. But as of the morning of September 29, the CR doesn’t even have a bill number!

You guys can’t even pass a CR in a responsible way, and yet I am required to pay for and obey all of your dictates, on pain of fines or imprisonment. This has things exactly backwards. Congress should be held to a higher standard, while citizens should be cut more slack. Remember, you are supposed to work for us, not the other way around.

If you passed DownsizeDC.org’s Read the Bills Act . . .

* You would be forced to prioritize
* The open process required by RTBA would also provide an opportunity to cut waste and pork from our $3.8 trillion federal government

And think about this — introducing the Read the Bills Act would be a brilliant move for your re-election campaign.

END LETTER

You can send your letter through DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System.

And if you have a website or blog, we invite you to join the Read the Bills Act Coalition. Membership will give you an opportunity to spread awareness about the RTBA, and in exchange we will list your site on our blog and announce it in a Downsizer-Dispatch reaching over 30,000 subscribers. You can learn more and join here.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org

If your comment is off-topic for this post, please email us at feedback@downsizedc.org

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